Michael Abrams

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A century after World War I, you can visit the places where the Americans fought and died. The landscape is still pockmarked with craters from artillery shells. Monuments honor those who fought. And white marble crosses and Stars of David, in well-groomed cemeteries, mark where many of those killed still rest.

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The Frankfurt Motor Show opens its doors to the public on Saturday and visitors will find a variety of gleaming cars from energy saving, subcompact electric vehicles to hybrid-powered SUVs and gas guzzling sports cars.

Following the Russian intervention in Ukraine in 2014 the United States has tried to make its allies, especially those in neighboring Russia in eastern Europe, feel less threatened through a program dubbed the European Reassurance Initiative.

Row upon row they lie in the French soil, under a perfectly manicured green lawn. Each grave is marked, either with a Latin Cross or a Star of David. Most of them lost their lives not far from here, fighting in a long-ago World War I battle known as the St. Mihiel salient offensive.

One of the battles fought in World War I was for the St. Mihiel Salient in eastern France. In a bloody fight that lasted four days in August and September of 1918, the U.S. First Army defeated the Germans. The Montsec American Monument commemorates the victory and the Second Army’s operations in the area in November.

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The town was founded by a guy nicknamed Redbeard. True, people already had been living here on the banks of Germany’s Kinzig River, but when Emperor Fredrick Barbarossa had a palace built in the 12th century, it put Gelnhausen on the map.

Let’s take a trip to Gut City. Name not appealing? Well, that’s the literal translation of Darmstadt, but that’s probably not the origin of this central German city’s name. It possibly was named after a medieval nobleman named Darmunde.

Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s almost tulip time in Holland. Next Thursday, Keukenhof opens for the 67th time, and about a million flower lovers will descend on the famed gardens on the outskirts of Lisse.

Michael Abrams

Photographer Michael Abrams joined Stars and Stripes in 1976 and is based in
Kaiserslautern, Germany. He has photographed assignments for Stars and Stripes
in Europe, Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East.